Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC Trims Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 6.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,635,935 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 358,011 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 12.1% of Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Gardner Russo & Quinn LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,073,307,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,000. WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Mountain Hill Investment Partners Corp. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 4.9 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $156.06 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $148.20 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $181.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $178.31. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $208.56.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total transaction of $262,040.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 20,681 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,961,445.55. This represents a 6.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 104,812 shares of company stock worth $19,336,979. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.